Point of Order : So far the starting points of this theory have been laid out and should be read in the order in which they appear (Dharma, A New Starting Point, Ultimate Event Theory : First Principles andDefinitions, Anticipations of Ultimate Event Theory in Hinayana Buddhism). From now on posts will deal with specific issues immediately arising from the initial assumptions and will be numbered. There is the rather irritating feature that posts are automatically placed on the site with the most recent at the head, i.e. not in the ‘logical order’. However, this will eventually be rectified and in any case within reason Ultimate Event Theory can be entered at any point since, precisely, it does not have, nor is intended to have, a strict linear ordering such as is the case in mathematics or the mathematical sciences. Indeed, I see the general schema of any new scientific or symbolic system as being rather different from the axiomatic model we inherit from the Greeks, i.e. 1. Axioms, Postulates & Definitions 2. Theorems derived from 1. I envisage something much more fluid, a schema based on certain Assumptions which function as constraints rather than kicking-off points, while what happens within the boundaries of these constraints is something of a free-for-all which will eventually (we hope) settle down into something with a clearcut form and shape. Either/Or : Ultimate Event Theory is a radically new way of envisaging reality. As such it will either turn out to be a waste of time which will end up, at most, as a footnote to a Science Fiction short story, or will (eventually) spawn all sorts of developments, most of which are at present unforeseeable. To see just how novel a way of envisaging reality it is, we need only recall that the sixteenth and seventeenth century scientific revolution, the most successfull movement of ideas in history, was based on the assumption “that the sole and adequate explanation of [the functioning of] the universe is to be found in terms of body and motion” as Burtt puts it in his useful book, The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Science. But both matter and motion (in the accepted meaning given to the terms) are secondary entities, ‘illusory’ if you like, from the point of view of Ultimate Event Theory. To be sure, contemporary science makes less and less appeal to these notions, tending to substitute for them the portmanteau concept of ‘energy’, but it is nonetheless by mounting up this ladder that the student learns physical science is learned even today and there are very few people indeed who are prepared to go back to the beginning and look for a different starting point. Unfortunately, almost all scientists today know too much and in consequence are unwilling or incapable of making a fresh start, while those receptive to new ideas do not know enough traditional science and can all too easily be brow-beaten.Symbolic Expression : I have deliberately restrained myself from attempting to develop any new form of mathematics to serve as the symbolic expression of Ultimate Event Theory since it is my conviction that traditional mathematics is nearing the end of its useful life as a means of representing reality. The unspoken but nonetheless implicit ‘paradigm’ underlying ‘classical’ mathematics and physics is of a super-intelligent Creator God devising a small collection of mathematical formulae and ‘Natural Laws’ which are sufficient to dictate, and subsequently explain, the functioning of the entire universe from start to finish, supposing there is a finish. This was the ‘world-view’, or ‘tale on reality’, that the great Western ‘classical’ scientists of the past, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Boyle and so on, had at the back of their minds. Today, we have got rid of the Creator God but retain the notion of unchangeable mathematical principles and formulae which in some sense ‘pre-exist’ and whose truth is independent of any actual or possible universe. I consider this vision to have largely outlived its shelf life, exceedingly fruitful though it has been. The ‘universe’ most likely functions much more in the way biological systems function : though subject to certain constraints, such systems are forever improvising, extending, recombining and even very occasionally negating the supposed or actual underlying ‘principles’. Computer simulations are clearly much closer to the way biological systems actually behave and, for this reason, are being used used more and more. The most urgent requirement for Ultimate Event Theory is to devise some sort of computer simulation or ‘artificial world’ which will model events and their interactions and thus facilitate prediction : I shall have more to say about this in a subsequent post. However, such an application of the theory is well beyond my expertise which is one reason why I have eventually, after many misgivings, taken the plunge of putting the theory into the public domain. Anyone who has anything to offer in this respect is invited to get in contact with me — they should find this possible by following a paper trail to one or other of my websites. Flippant, patronising or abusive comments will naturally be ignored.
Nature and Scope : Ultimate Event Theory is not for the faint-hearted. It presupposes that there is a level of reality which even atomic physics has barely touched on : perhaps these ‘ultimate events’ will turn out to be the famous ‘hidden variables’ posited by Bohm and others, who can tell. Certainly, we are not dealing with atoms or particles or anything even remotely substantial or inherently persistent : the principal feature of these very elusive creatures, ultimate events, is that they occupy very small locations in Space-Time (to use the current phrase) and are, by their very nature, evanescent. The ‘natural’ tendency of ultimate events is to appear and then disappear for ever, and it is one of the challenges of the theory to ‘explain’ not only why there is something rather than nothing, but how it is that this ‘something’ keeps on reasserting itself in a more or less identical fashion. Descartes was puzzled by this very issue and seemingly sketched out a theory of Instantaneous Being : he found it necessary to invoke the ceaseless direct participation of God to explain the persistence of the physical universe.Collaborative Endeavour : Ultimate Event Theory undercuts so much and aims so far that it will, of necesssity, be a major collaborative effort engaging the intellects and imaginations of many persons, most of them at present still young or not yet born. All I can hope to do is to give the idea a send-off : the rest is up to you. But who are you? S.H.